Tag Archives: eyelids

Admittedly, I am not the most photogenic person in the world. Add to that my current battle with acne, and you’ll understand why I was anxious about the recent photo op that took place at our office for our new IDs. On the day of the shoot (what else am I supposed to call it?), I spent a little extra time on my make-up, working hard to conceal my pimples and scars.

Having managed to make myself look presentable for my mug shot—and with the evidence to prove it (scroll down please)—I thought I’d list a few of the things I did in preparation for having my picture taken.

Ace your base. Sounds like the name of that 90s band; I couldn’t resist, sorry 🙂 Making your base as flawless as possible is key to looking good in pictures. You’ll want to carefully conceal blemishes and any discoloration, taking care to blend your concealer well into your foundation so that no part of your face is abnormally paler than the others.

Take time to define. In order to NOT look washed out in pictures, there are certain features that you need to define with product. These are your eyebrows, lashlines (both top and bottom), and lips. I filled in bare spots in my brows with a grayish-brown pencil, lined my eyes with brown liner, and stained my lips with just a bit of pink lipstick. Of course, I also applied mascara, eyeshadow, and blush/bronzer (not that my contouring was obvious, thanks to my chubby cheeks).

Classic is basic. (Okay, this rhyming thing is getting harder to sustain.) The thing about pictures is that they’ll be around for a really long time. With this in mind, I think it’s better to stick to neutral tones and not opt for shades that are too dramatic or trendy. Case in point: I used shades of peaches and browns on my lids, and soft pink on my cheeks and lips. Keep in mind that this was for an official ID, so I couldn’t really do a smoky eye, now could I? Although I volunteered to do it for an officemate whose make-up I worked on, I’m not surprised she refused 🙂

One last thing, makeup pros discourage the use of foundation/concealer with SPF in it for pictures. It seems the SPF, combined with the camera flash, results in a face that is too white, too pale, too reminiscent of ghosties. Personally, I haven’t had this experience, but I just stick to SPF-less foundation for pictures to be on the safe side.

And now, are you ready for the unveiling? Here we go…

Apart from that pimple above my left eyebrow (which I’m officially claiming is a birthmark which I’ve had since…erm, birth), I think I did okay. Looking at it, you wouldn’t know that I have a bit of an acne situation at the moment.